THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
In Deuteronomy 6: 4-6, Moses reminds God’s people of the first
commandments God gave: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee
this day, shall be in thine heart.”
Then in Deuteronomy 10: 12-13a, Moses reminds them again:
“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to
fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and
to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to
keep the commandments of the Lord.”
When Jesus came, he too reminded God’s people of their
responsibility in their covenant relationship with God: “And thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment” (Mark 12:30).
We confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord over and above all
else, right? We are not our own Lords. We say we follow Jesus, but do our
actions bear that out?
God has promised to heal us and deliver us, but many have
unknowingly been tricked by the devil and have mistakenly turned away from their
covenant with the Lord.
They have sewn together a patchwork of distraction to
cover themselves, to cover the deep wounds, bruises, broken hearts, and hurt.
The patchwork of distractions was supposed to cover them, but the hurt and the
fruit of hurt become an attachment in their minds and bodies: diseased hearts,
bowels, lungs, cataracts, blood diseases, tumors growing, cancer spreading, etc.,
and all because the patchwork of distractions cannot heal. They are, after all,
distractions from the truth, but not a cure.
These distractions will not address the pain directly.
Only our God can do that, and He does it through Jesus Christ, whom we claim is
our Lord. But if we leave Him out, we have no garment of praise because we have
no true healing or deliverance. God promised He would give us the garment of
praise in place of the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3).
We need to agree with that: Take off the cloak of
heaviness and come back to the one true God, the only one who has seen you and
knows you. Only He can see all and heal all. He is the Most High God. He is Jehovah;
He is the Lord of Hosts, the captain of the greatest army ever—the army that
has the power and might and ability to fight for us, to fight off the thoughts
of unbelief, fear, agony, and despondency. Only our God, through the power of
the Lord Jesus Christ, can clothe us with His holy garments of peace, praise,
and delight.
God, through the Lord Jesus Christ our Lord, is the “thou”
in Psalm 145:16: “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every
living thing.” Even if we try our hardest, we may not be able to fight off
doubt by ourselves, but the Lord says He will do it for us.
When three armies came against God’s people, this is what
God gave one of His prophets to say to the people:
“Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great
multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Ye
shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves,
stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you” (2
Chron 20: 15a, 17b).
David wasn’t always strong: “In the day when I cried,
thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in
my soul” (Psa. 138:3).
“I am thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness (Isa. 41:10b).
Many in the body of Christ have put on a self-made
garment of politics, doctors, psychologists, entertainment, and other things,
but have forsaken the hand of the Lord our God.
Please, let’s re-examine our hearts and choices, and let
us come back to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ, to His scriptures, His Word,
His face. Tell Him what we really think. Get mad at Him if you have to. He already
knows. He just loves us and wants us to come to Him in honesty.
Come face to face with the Lord, like the prodigal son
that went astray and came back with humility, or like the other son who thought
he was doing ok, but in truth, he was angry with his father. If you think that
you might be one of these, it doesn’t matter. He just wants YOU and will gladly
take us in again the very moment we repent and once again surrender all to Him,
as He asked of His people in the first covenant with Israel.
Love, Carolyn
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